Tag Archives: car accident prevention

Despite sustaining a traumatic brain injury from my accident, I am the founder and president of Fulfill Your Destiny, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to helping people whose careers have been altered by injury or other unforeseen circumstances. Inspiring stories of people who have been helped can be found at www.fulfillyourdestiny.org under the Who We’ve Helped tab.

The proceeds from the sale of this book are directly donated to Fulfill Your Destiny. We hope you find the information contained within these pages of our book very insightful. Please know that your donation for this book is used to help others through Fulfill Your Destiny.

Our Mission

Fulfill Your Destinyhelps people whose careers have been altered by injury or other unforeseen circumstances. Special consideration is given to survivors living with a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Our Vision

To create the H.E.R.O. – ‘Hands Eagerly Reach Out’ movement. When we dare to care, our hands eagerly reach out to help others in need.

Imagine how strong every community could become if hands eagerly reach out to help others when and where needed.

Our Signature Program

Fulfill Your Destiny’s signature program awards ‘Business Builder Grants’ to proven entrepreneurs who have experienced life changing events to take their business to the next level.

Our Objectives

1) Keep People Working: To provide financial support to individuals whose careers have been altered due to permanent injuries or unforeseen circumstances, including, but not limited to traumatic brain injuries for the purpose of obtaining vocational counseling, educational or occupational retraining.

2) Inspire and Motivate: To educate others about those personal challenges facing any of us suffering injuries that permanently changes our lives. How we confront our challenges is the key to the core motto of Fulfill Your Destiny: Character Drives Destiny. We teach people that we are all defined by our character, which compels us to pick up the pieces and carry on when confronted with tremendous obstacles.

3) Build Awareness and Educate: To offer assistance – educational, financial, volunteer time and/or in-kind services directly to individuals and other non-profit corporations, to increase awareness of traumatic brain injuries and to support those who have experienced TBIs.

After my attorney told me to expect to be followed and videotaped, I never got used to the feeling that overtime I left my home, someone would be watching me with a video camera.I went about my business but it was a weird feeling thinking someone was possibly recording my every movement. Ultimately I just tried to put it out of my mind. But during these four years and two months in my case, I did stay home more than if I weren’t under such scrutiny.

With that being said, today I am sharing a Takeaway from my book, Plaintiff 101, that should help you understand why and how the defense will use surveillance tapes against you and how you need to handle it!

Takeaway #35

If the defense does produce surveillance videotapes, have your attorney’s office meet with your medical providers and experts, with tapes and monitor in hand to show them the actual activities. By doing so, you have taken away any element of surprise the defense attorney hopes to have during his examination of your medical treaters and other experts in deposition or trial. Physicians are independent by nature and will not appreciate defense investigators conducting surveillance on their patients. Even if they don’t like testifying at trial, this kind of stunt will usually energize a treating physician, motivating him to be an excellent advocate at trial or in deposition. Jurors do not love this form of investigation either. If the activities can be explained and justified by your treating physicians and experts, it will do serious harm to the defense’s case.

For those who are interested in owning Amazon’sBest Seller,“Plaintiff 101” as a valuable resource:

Despite sustaining a traumatic brain injury from my accident, I am the founder and president of Fulfill Your Destiny, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to helping people whose careers have been altered by injury or other unforeseen circumstances. Inspiring stories of people who have been helped can be found at www.fulfillyourdestiny.org under the Who We’ve Helped tab.

The proceeds from the sale of this book are directly donated to Fulfill Your Destiny. We hope you find the information contained within these pages of our book very insightful. Please know that your donation for this book is used to help others through Fulfill Your Destiny.

Our Mission

Fulfill Your Destinyhelps people whose careers have been altered by injury or other unforeseen circumstances. Special consideration is given to survivors living with a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Our Vision

To create the H.E.R.O. – ‘Hands Eagerly Reach Out’ movement. When we dare to care, our hands eagerly reach out to help others in need.

Imagine how strong every community could become if hands eagerly reach out to help others when and where needed.

Our Signature Program

Fulfill Your Destiny’s signature program awards ‘Business Builder Grants’ to proven entrepreneurs who have experienced life changing events to take their business to the next level.

Our Objectives

1) Keep People Working: To provide financial support to individuals whose careers have been altered due to permanent injuries or unforeseen circumstances, including, but not limited to traumatic brain injuries for the purpose of obtaining vocational counseling, educational or occupational retraining.

2) Inspire and Motivate: To educate others about those personal challenges facing any of us suffering injuries that permanently changes our lives. How we confront our challenges is the key to the core motto of Fulfill Your Destiny: Character Drives Destiny. We teach people that we are all defined by our character, which compels us to pick up the pieces and carry on when confronted with tremendous obstacles.

3) Build Awareness and Educate: To offer assistance – educational, financial, volunteer time and/or in-kind services directly to individuals and other non-profit corporations, to increase awareness of traumatic brain injuries and to support those who have experienced TBIs.

Looking for a new great read this Spring? Interested in how to handle a personal injury litigation and how to become a valuable partner to your attorney? Jump on Amazon and add “Plaintiff 101” to your cart! Here are some words from Karen Mertes on her book,

“After my four year long litigation battle, my attorney husband and I decided to write, “Plaintiff 101” to help other personal injury victims. Being involved in a life-changing car accident is devastating. You deserve to get your life back to normal, yet the justice system is not an easy one to navigate. That’s what this book is for. To give you inside information and what your lawyer will want you to know in order to have a wining case.

Despite sustaining a traumatic brain injury from my accident, I am the founder and president of Fulfill Your Destiny, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to helping people whose careers have been altered by injury or other unforeseen circumstances. Inspiring stories of people who have been helped can be found at www.fulfillyourdestiny.org under the Who We’ve Helped tab.”

The proceeds from the sale of this book are directly donated to Fulfill Your Destiny. We hope you find the information contained within these pages of our book very insightful. Please know that your donation for this book is used to help others through Fulfill Your Destiny.

Brain injury is unpredictable in its consequences. Brain injury affects who we are, the way we think, act, and feel. It can change everything about us in a matter of seconds. The most important things to remember:
• A person with a brain injury is a person first
• No two brain injuries are exactly the same
• The effects of a brain injury are complex and vary greatly from person to person
• The effects of a brain injury depend on such factors as cause, location, and severity

A Healthy Brain
To understand what happens when the brain is injured, it is important to realize what a healthy brain is made of and what it does. The brain is enclosed inside the skull. The skull acts as a protective covering for the soft brain. The brain is made of neurons (nerve cells). The neurons form tracts that route throughout the brain. These nerve tracts carry messages to various parts of the brain. The brain uses these messages to perform functions. The functions include coordinating our body systems, such as breathing, heart rate, body temperature, and metabolism; thought processing; body movements; personality; behavior; and the senses, such as vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Each part of the brain serves a specific function and links with other parts of the brain to form more complex functions. All parts of the brain need to be working well in order for the brain to work well. Even “minor” or “mild” injuries to the brain can significantly disrupt the brain’s ability to function.

An Injured Brain
When a brain injury occurs, the functions of the neurons, nerve tracts, or sections of the brain can be affected. If the neurons and nerve tracts are affected, they can be unable or have difficulty carrying the messages that tell the brain what to do. This can change the way a person thinks, acts, feels, and moves the body. Brain injury can also change the complex internal functions of the body, such as regulating body temperature; blood pressure; bowel and bladder control. These changes can be temporary or permanent. They may cause impairment or a complete inability to perform a function.

For those who are interested in owning Amazon’sBest Seller,“Plaintiff 101” as a valuable resource:

This unofficial holiday with unknown origins encourages people to be proactive about achieving what they want in life.

Dreams That Inspire

Karen Mertes suffered a TBI, traumatic brain injury, after a nearly fatal car accident due to a drunk driver. After her recovery and personal injury litigation, Karen co-authored her book, “Plaintiff 101.” Not only did she use her horrific experience to become an Amazon Best Seller, she gives all of her proceeds to her charity Fulfill Your Destiny to allow others to have their dreams of a better life come true.

Dreams that motivate us to do better encourages us to take on more challenges and energizes us to succeed in our lives, both professionally and personally.

How to Celebrate?

Get started on making your dream come true.

Talk to someone who inspires you.

Make an inspiration board with images and words relating to your dream.

Write down your dream, make a project plan, and create deadlines for you to work towards.